Thursday, August 6, 2009

After Denying Craker, The Government Needs a New Marijuana Grower

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is soliciting proposals from qualified organizations having the capability to (1) grow, harvest, analyze, store and distribute GMP grade cannabis (marijuana) on large and small scales; (2) extract cannabis to obtain purified phytocannabinoids including delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-THC), analyze, and store; (3) prepare marijuana cigarettes and related products; and (4) distribute marijuana, marijuana cigarettes and cannabinoids, and other related products for research and other Government programs upon NIDA authorization.

So, the federal government is looking for a new person to grow pot for them. This is very interesting as very recently, the DEA prevented a UMass Amherst Professor, Lyle Craker, from growing marijuana for research purposes continuing the monopoly that the University of Mississippi has been holding for the past 40 years.

MAPS, led by Rick Doblin, set out to find someone to end the monopoly that NIDA has on growing government pot because it is shit at 1%-2% THC and is often left in storage for months or even years which turns it almost useless. They found Craker, who is in no way an activist for or against marijuana, to grow many different strains of marijuana for government testing. In legal terms, they needed to get him a Schedule I grower's license.

After a whole bunch of hurdles that you can read about here, in February of 2007, DEA administrative judge Mary Ellen Bittner officially recommended that Craker should "be permitted to grow research-grade marijuana for use in privately-funded government-approved studies that aim to develop the marijuana plant into a legal, prescription medicine."

The DEA immediately went into block mode and stalled and delayed and finally said "No." Despite support from 38 Members of Congress and both Massachusetts Senators, they just went ahead and ignored Judge Bittner's ruling.

Its very similar to how they ignored Judge Francis L.Young's 1989 decision: "The cannabis plant considered as a whole has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is no lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision and it may lawfully be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II. The judge recommends that the Administrator transfer cannabis ."

And now, they need someone else to grow some pot for them. The One issue I really take with the "job posting" by the government is that it specifies "GMP grade cannabis." Meaning, the same shitty weed they've been growing and testing forever. Marijuana is a beautiful plant (as I wrote about in The Observer) and one of the amazing things is the variety of plants and the very potent differences between them. How can the government claim it is even doing research into marijuana when it only uses something barely any stronger than industrial hemp? Oh right, because most of the people in Washington are lying sacks of shit.

Well, I know when I've ranted too much so I'll end this post with my best wishes for all of you, especially if your wishes are to get stoned.